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Patented Mar; l4, I899. u. u; LENTZ & H. c. SHAW. MACHINE FOR CHARGING FURNACES.

' (A' umion flled Feb. 28, 1898.)

2 Sheofs8heet I (No Model.)

Q7 0&72 far); favz df 672 No. 621,107; Patented Mar. l4, I899.

n. H; LENTZ & H. c. SHAW. MACHINE FOR CHARGING FURNACES.

- (Application filed Feb; 28, 1898.)

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UNITED STAT S PATENT OFFICE.

DAVID R. LENTZ, OE JOLIET, ILLINOIS, AND IIENRY c. SHAW, OF PITTS- BURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNORS TO THE MOKENNA sTEEL WORKING OOMPANY, F MILWAUKEE, WIScONsIN. a

MACHINE FOR CHARGING FURNACES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 621,107, dated March 14, 1899. Application filed February 28, 1898. Serial No. 671,917. (No model.)

State of Illinois, and HENRY C. SHAW, resid ing at Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, citizens of the United States, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Machines for Charging Furnaces, (Cases Nos. 2 and 1,) of

IO which the following is a full, clear,'concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

Our invention relates to a charging-max 5 chine; and its Object is to produce a machine adapted to manipulaterailway-rails or other objects of somewhat similar character.

Primarily the machine of our invention was designed to charge worn or otherwise impaired railway-rails into a furnace adapted to heat them in preparation for a rerolling or renewing process, and We will describe our invention in connection with a machine adapted for this specific purpose.

z 5 Generally speaking, our invention consists in a machine having a table upon which a series of rails may be loaded side by side, means being provided for moving each of said rails, one at a time, into a position from which they may be pushed or charged directly into the furnace by a suitable pushing mechanism, and means being also provided for moving the machine along in front of the furnace, so that the next rail to be inserted will be moved 3 5 into such a position that it may be opposite a clear space in the furnace.

We preferably so construct the machine that the operation of moving a rail into position to be charged into the furnace will be 40 done simultaneously with the movement of the machine along the front of the furnace,

thereby effecting a considerable saving of time.

We will describe our invention in detail 5 with reference to the accompanying drawings, in Which-- Figure 1 is a plan view of a charging-machine constructed in accordance with our invention. Fig. 2 is an end view thereof. Fig.

3 is a sectional view on line 3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a detail view of a portion of the mechanism.

Like letters refer to like parts throughout the several figures.

The frame a of the machine is provided with two sets of Wheels a a a a which are adapted to travel upon tracks I) I), placed parallel with the front of the furnace h, thus allowing the whole machine to be moved to and fro in front of the furnace. Forming a part of the framework and preferably located immediately above the tracks I) b are three supporting-ways a a (L as shown in Fig. 1, these supporting-ways constituting a transfer-table upon which the rails may be loaded side by side, as illustrated in Fig. 2, taking a position at right angles with said supporting-Ways. A guideway c is provided upon and forms a part of the framework a, said guideway being located at one end of the transfer table formed by said supporting-ways. A pair of sprocket-wheels d d is provided, one at each end of the supporting-way a a second pair of sprocket-wheels d d is provided, one at each end of the supporting-way a and athird pair of sprocket-wheels d d is likewise provided upon the supporting-way of, the

upon, said shaft 61 is adapted to be moved along said shaft to engage with said sprocket- Wheel 01 by means of a lever (1 pivoted at d to the frame of the machine and connected with said clutch by arms d d. A sprocketchain c passes over the pair of sprocket-Wheels A sprocket-chain e passes over the pair of sprocket-wheels 01 (Z and a sprocket-chain 8 passes over the pair of sprocket-wheels 61 61 said chains e and 6 being each provided with 5 a series of projecting lugs or pawls a as shown most clearly in Fig. 2,Which pawls are adapted to engage with the rails f f as they lie upon the supporting-ways forming the table. Upon rotation of said sprocket-wheels d 02 by mechanism hereinafter to be described, the pawls 6 carried by the chains e 6 are caused to engage with the series of rails ff and move the whole series toward the guideway c, the end rail thereof being thus thrown into the guideway. A pusher g,preferably mounted on rol1- ers g g, is adapted to travel to and fro along said guideway c, said pusher being secured to and operated by a sprocket-chain 0, passing over a pair of sprocket-wheels 0 0 provided one at each end of said guideway. Upon the rotation of the sprocket-wheel c in the manner hereinafter to be described the pusher g, secured to the sprocket-chain c, is moved along said guideway, so that when a rail is placed in the guideway the pusher is adapted to engage therewith and push the same along and out of the guideway into the furnace h. In Fig. 3 the pusher is illustrated as in the act of performing this operation. After the pusher has reached the end 0 of the guideway c the direction of rotation of the sprocket-wheel 0 may be reversed and the pusher carried backward to the opposite end 0 of the guideway, so that the next rail of the series upon the transfer-table may be engaged by the pawls e and thrown into the guideway to be engaged by the pusher 9 upon its next journey. This operation may be repeated until all of the rails upon the transfertable have been charged into the furnace. The sprocket-wheel (1 which is located on the outer end of the middle supporting-way a, is mounted upon the end of a short shaft z',which is adapted to rotate in bearings t" i in said supporting-way,which shaftis provided upon its other end with a sprocket-wheel 7a. A sprocket-chain passes around the sprocketwheel 70 and also around a sprocket-wheel k mounted upon the shaft k which carries the set of wheels at a a.

It will be seen that upon rotation of the sprocket-wheel d the shaft 71: carrying the wheels a, will be rotated through the agency of the chain e, sprocket-wheel (Z shaft 1', sprocket wheel 70, chain 76', and sprocketwheel 70 whereby the whole carriage will be moved along the tracks I) b.

Upon a platform Z, forming a part of the framework of the machine, is secured an engine Z and boiler 1 The engine is preferably of the double-cylinder reversible type illustrated, and upon the shaft Z thereof are loosely mounted two sprocket-wheels m 'n. (Shown most clearly in Figsl and 2.) A clutch p, splined to rotate with said shaft P, but movable longitudinally thereon, is provided between the two sprocket-wheels m n and is adapted to engage with either of said sprocketwheels m n and impart rotation thereto. lVe preferably provide a lever Z pivoted at Z to the frame of the engine, by which said clutch may be moved longitudinally upon the shaft to cause it to engage with either of the sprocket-wheels. A s p rocket-chain m passes ox er the sprocket-wheel m and connects it with a sprocket-wheel 0 mounted upon a shaft 0, at the end of which shaft is mounted the sprocket-wheel 0 which operates the pusher, so that, when the lever Z is moved to cause the clutch p to engage with the sprocketwheel on, if the engine be started the pusher will be caused to travel upon the guideway 0 through the agency of the chain c, sprocketwheel 0 shaft 0, sprocket-wheel 0, chain m, and sprocket-wheel m upon the engine-shaft. Sprocket-wheel n is connected by means of a chain at with a sprocket-wheel n mounted upon a shaft a which is adapted to rotate in bearings n upon the under side of the platform Z. This shaft 91 is adapted to rotate the shaft g, which carries the set of wheels at a a? through the agency of a miter gear a, mounted upon the end of the shaft 91 which miter-gear meshes with a miter-gear at, mounted upon the end of said shaft g. It will thus be seen that when the lever Z of the engine is moved to cause the clutch p to en gage with the sprocket-wheel n and impart the rotation of the engine-shaft Z thereto the wheels a 662 a will be rotated by the shaft (1 to move the whole carriage along the track I), said shaft q being operated through the agency of miter gear n", miter-gear n, shaft 42 sprocket-wheel 17?, chain a, and sprocketwheel 41 upon the engineshaft, Since the e11- gine is of the well-known reversible type, it will be seen that by manipulating the lever Z and the throttle-1e\-*er- Z" of the engine the pusher may be caused to travel to and fro upon the guideway c, or the whole carriage may be moved back and forth along the track Z2, as may be desired.

\Ve will now proceed to describe the means employed for rotating the shaft r", together with the sprocket-wheels (Z (Z (1*, mounted thereon, which cause the series of rails to be moved along the transfer-table by the pawls 6 mounted upon the sprocketchains c 6 e so as to throw the end rail of the series into the guideway c.

A miter-gear 'r' is secured to the shaft cl and meshes with a miter-gear r, mounted upon a shaft 0*, which isadapted to be rotated bymeansofasteanrcataracts. Asillustrated in Fig. 4:, the shaft r is provided with a ratchet wheel r which rotates therewith, and an arm 0' is adapted to rotate loosely upon said shaft W, said arm carrying a pawl r which is caused to engage with said ratchet-wheel r by the tension of a leaf-spring r. The pitman s of the steam-cataract is secured to the end of said arm 9' and is adapted to rock the same back and forth upon the shaft 0, the pawl 0' being thus caused to engage with the ratchetwheel r and rotate the same, together with the shaft 0*, upon: which said ratchet-wheel is mounted.

Upon consideration of Fig. 1 it will be seen that as the pitman of the steam-cataract is moved to the right the pawl will slide over the teeth upon the ratchet-wheel 9- thus causing no rotation of the shaft 4 but upon movement of the pitman 3 toward the left after it has finished its outward stroke the pawl T will engage with the teeth of the ratchetwheel 1' and thus cause the whole series of rails to be moved along the transfer-table by the agency of the pawls e secured to the chains 6 e 2 sprocket-wheels d 61 d shaft (1 miter-gears r r, and shaft 0*, upon which said ratchet-wheel r is mounted. Should the clutch d be caused to engage with the sprocket-wheel d it will be seen that simultaneously with this movement of the rails along the transfer-table the whole carriage will be moved a short'distance along the track I) by the rotation of the shaft in a manner already described. At each complete reciprocation of the arm of the steam-cataract s, then, if the clutch d is caused to engage the sprocket-wheel d the end rail of the series upon the transfer-table will be thrown into the guideway c, and simultaneously the whole carriage will be moved along the track I) so that the guideway 0 will be opposite a clear space in the furnace. Now, the clutch p being in engagement with the sprocket-Wheel m upon the shaft of the engine Z, upon the operation of said engine the pusher will be caused to engage the rail thrown into the guideway and push the same into the furnace, whereupon the direction of rotation of the engine-shaft will be reversed and the pusher will bedrawn to the opposite end of the guideway e in position to push the next rail which may be thrown into the guideway. This operation is repeated, the carriage being moved step by step until all the rails upon the transfer-table have been charged into the furnace. Now the lever 61 may be manipulated .to disengage the clutch d from the sprocket-wheel d and the lever may be moved to throw the clutch s out of engagement with the sprocket-wheel m and into engagement with the sprocket-wheel a, so that upon operation of the engine the shaft q, carrying the set of wheels a will be rotated by the engine in a manner already described and the whole carriage will be moved backward to take its first position, where a new series of rails may be loaded upon the transfer-table in readiness for recharging the furnace.

If desired,the step-by-step movement of the carriage along in front of the furnace may be accomplished without the necessity of employing the train of sprocket-wheels operated from the sprocket-wheel d by manipulating the lever Z to shift the clutch 19 after each journey of the pusher; but since this mode of operation takes much more time than that already described we prefer to accomplish the step-by-step movement by means of the steam-cataract s, for by this latter method it is not necessary to change the position of the to be understood as limiting ourselves to the precise construction shown in the drawings, as various modifications may be made therein which will readily suggest'themselves to those skilled in the art.

In the claims we will use the word rail our invention, and we will likewise use the term furnace in the sense of any chamber or the like adapted to receive such objects.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a machine for charging rails into a furnace, the combination'with a table adapted to support a number of rails, of a guideway adjacent to said table, means for transferring one of the rails from the table to said guideway, mechanism automatically actuated thereupon for moving said guideway a fraction of the distance across said furnace, pushing mechanism for engaging a rail lying in said guideway and charging the same into the furnace, and means for moving the guideway back to its starting-point after it has traveled thus step by step across the front of the furnace, substantially as described.

-in the sense of any object of a character adapted to be manipulated by the machine of 2. In a machine for chargingrails into a furnace, the combination with a table adapted to support a number of rails, ofa guideway adjacent to said table, said table and guide way being mounted to travel together to and fro in front of the furnace, means for moving the whole series of rails along said table whereby the end rail of the series is thrown into the guideway, mechanism automatically actuated simultaneously therewith for causing all of said parts to move a fraction of the distance across the front of the furnace, a pusher traveling to and fro in said guideway for charging a rail therefrom into the furnace,

and means for moving the machine back to its startingpoint after it has traveled thus step by step across the front of the furnace, substantially as set forth.

In witness whereof we hereunto subscribe our names in the presence of witnesses.

DAVID l-I. LENTZ.

H. 0. SHAW.

Witnesses to signature of Lentz: W. C. HOE,

L. E. WARD.

Witnesses to signature of Shaw:

ALBERT J. HENNING, 'E. A. LEONARD. 

